Prevalence, virulence and antifungal activity of C. albicans isolated from infected root canals

There is limited data on the prevalence of Candida species in infected root canal systems of human teeth. We attempted to investigate the prevalence, genotype, virulence and the antifungal susceptibility of Candida albicans isolated from infected root canals of patients with primary and post-treatment infections in a UAE population. Microbiological samples from 71 subjects with infected root canals were aseptically collected, and cultured on Sabouraud dextrose agar, and C. albicans was identified using multiplex polymerase chain reaction, and the isolates were further subtyped using ABC genotyping system. Their relative virulence was compared using further four archival samples of endodontic origin from another geographical region, and four more salivary isolates, as controls. The virulence attributes compared were biofilm formation, and production of phospholipase and haemolysin, and the susceptibility to nystatin, amphotericin B, ketoconazole, and fluoconazole was also tested. 4 out of 71 samples (5.6%) yielded Candida species. On analysis of variance among the groups, the intracanal isolates, mainly Genotype A, possessed a high degree of phospholipase and haemolysin activity (p